Siobhan Hughes
Mark Zuckerberg Says White House Was ‘Wrong’ to Pressure Facebook on COVID
In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) that touched on a series of controversies, Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said it was improper for the Biden administration to have pressured Facebook to censor content in 2021 related to the coronavirus pandemic, vowing that the social-media company would reject any such future efforts. Zuckerberg wrote that senior Biden administration officials, including from the White House, had “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot
Sen Klobuchar introduces bill to strip social media of health misinformation protections
Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced a bill that would strip online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter of liability protections if their technology spreads misinformation about coronavirus vaccines or other public-health emergencies. Sen Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) joins Klobuchar as a co-sponsor.
GOP Senators Release Outline of $568 Billion Infrastructure Plan
A group of Senate Republicans released the outline for a $568 billion infrastructure plan, putting out a GOP alternative to President Biden’s $2.3 trillion plan as lawmakers seek a bipartisan compromise on the issue. The two-page Republican plan—which includes spending on roads, transit systems, and broadband internet over five years—doesn’t provide specifics on how it would cover the cost of the bill, a central issue in the talks.
Senate Rebukes Trump With Vote to Reinstate ZTE Sales Ban
The Senate passed legislation to reinstate a ban on sales of US components to ZTE Corp. in a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump, who had taken steps to revive the Chinese telecommunications company. The measure was wrapped in a larger, must-pass defense bill that cleared the Senate on an 85-10 vote. President Trump is expected to turn his attention to persuading congressional negotiators to strip the ZTE sales ban out of the final version of the defense authorization bill.
Senators Move to Sink Trump’s ZTE Deal
In a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump, Republican Senate leaders set up a vote for the week of June 11 that would undo the White House deal to revive Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was on Capitol Hill late June 11 to lobby against the move. But Democratic and Republican lawmakers said that an agreement had been reached to wrap into the National Defense Authorization Act an amendment that would ban ZTE from buying components from US suppliers.